Eternal.Angel
June 29, 2007 to July 3, 2007
Disclaimers: I do not own any part whatsoever of Prince of Tennis.
Summary: Thanks to the J.K. Rowling's idea of writing a story that prolongs to an entire school year, I have decided to write a Prince of Tennis story that recaptures every moment of Seigaku (BE WARNED! IT'S NOT EXACTLY THE SAME AS THE ANIME OR MANGA!) Enjoy! And don't forget to review please!
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Year One, Stage Two
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Next morning, Echizen Ryoma forced himself up, finding his school clothes in the shaded room.
"Meow," sounded a Himalayan cat named Karupin. It sat upright on his bed, swaying its tail side to side in a slow motion.
"Not now, Karupin," the boy muttered, then yawning as he tried to find his wear. After finding his clothes he shuffled down the stairs and headed towards the bathroom, taking a brief shower before settling himself down to breakfast.
"Ah, ohayo Ryoma-san," his blue-haired cousin Nanako cheerfully greeted him, placing a bowl of rice, miso soup, and fried fish on a small square plate.
"Ohayo," he replied bluntly, and he picked up his chopsticks to wolf down his breakfast. He is a growing boy, after all, and what is better than having a Japanese breakfast to start your day?
"Tsk, tsk," commented a man behind a large newspaper. He popped his face from behind and returned to read, muffling to the boy, "Oi, seishounen, you could at least happily greet your dazzling father good morning!" He cackled aloud and then spoke in a low voice, "Oh, now this is interesting…" The flipping of the pages sounded into Ryoma's ears, and irritated, he pushed himself out of his chair and tore the newspaper away from the man's grasps.
"Oi! Seishounen, give that back!" startled the man, as he reached to grab the newspaper with his left hand.
"Yada," he said coolly, and deposited the newspaper into the trash can. "Perverted oyaji," he mumbled to himself and briskly walked into the hallway to gather his things for school.
"Ittekimasu," the twelve-year-old said, and he left the household with a loud banging from the door's closing.
"You come back here this instant, boy!" fumbled his father, Echizen Nanjiroh, former pro tennis player, who had abruptly retired due to an injury.
"Ah, Ryoma-san," thought aloud his cousin, and as she turned to clean up the table, she noticed the corner of the newspaper –– no magazine, –– sticking broadly in view out of the trash can. With a trembling hand, she picked up the dirty magazine, but only to find it even dirtier. All over the magazine were young women dressed to very close, yes, very close, to naked. Nanako's face turned red, and her brows narrowed.
"Ojii-san!" cried Nanako, as she fumed and threw the perverted magazine back to its rightful place.
oooooooooooooo
Ten minutes before class began was all the time Echizen needed to take a quick nap. Besides, he could sleep through English with no problems at all, since he was born in America and so fluent to it. He did not care much about the lessons than he cared about tennis. Tennis was life, and nothing else.
"ECHIZEN!" Horio yelled through his ear. He jerked himself upright and turned to see two big eyes with a goofy smile. Itte…that hurts baka, thought Ryoma as he rubbed his temples.
"Ohayo, Ryoma-kun," voiced two people, Kachiro and Katsuo. They waved at him politely, and Echizen simply nodded at them, rubbing his temple with his eyes closed still.
"I just can't wait for the regular tryouts! Too bad we freshmen can't sign up for it. Of course, if I were…" babbled Horio, as he proudly explained the process of the Seigaku Regular Tryouts. The two other freshmen intently listened to Mr. Two-Years-Of-Tennis-Experience when the classroom door slammed open, startling the conversing class.
"RYOMA-SAMA! RYOMA-SAMA!" cheered a girl with two curly pigtails as she proudly marched, or rather, barged inside.
A shy, petite girl behind her ran to catch up, patting her friend on the shoulder at the same time, squeaking, "Tomo-chan! You're embarrassing us!" She turned bright red and looked down at her shoes for a moment before returning to her task of calming down her friend.
"Oi! Shut up, would you loud-mouth!" Horio snapped, jumping off the desk and facing the pigtailed girl.
The pigtailed girl named Osakada Tomoka huffed and placed her hands on her hips. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
"Tomo-chan?"
"WHOEVER TELLS ME TO SHUT UP FACES MY WRATH!!!!!!!!!" roared Tomoka, lifting a chair from its desk and heaving it over her body, the chair just hovering over Horio's head, her eyes glowing with anger and evilness.
"Nani?" peeped the boy, as he cracked his neck bones to look upwards, his eyes widening at the frightening sight of the dangerous weapon. "Echizen-en," stuttered the boy as he began to shrink and dissolve into dust, "W-would y-o-ou mind-d h-hel-p-p-ing-g m-me h-here-e?" He gulped as the furniture inched closer.
"Hn?" The sleepy freshman began as he awoke from his short nap ––
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"
"PUNCH! KICK! WHAM!"
"&)!)$&)&)&!&(#&!$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"BANG! BONK! BAM!"
"T-tomo-o-ch-han!"
"Daijoubuka, minna?"
"BOOM! PLONK!"
"What if we get in trouble? Sensei might hear us!"
–– "Did someone call me?" asked Echizen as he lazily forced his head, looking around the classroom.
"WHOOSH!"
"SPLAT!"
"SCREEK"
"SATOSHI! Where is your seat? SIT DOWN! And what on bloody earth are you doing sliding off the bulletin board! GET TO YOUR SEAT, NOW!"
One second too early and Echizen could have found himself flattened against the classroom wall along with the unconscious Horio, framed snuggly against the bulletin board.
oooooooooooooo
"That Osakada," muttered Horio under his breath, "I'LL GET HER NEXT TIME!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, clenching a hard rock fist as his other hand holding a basket of tennis balls spilled to the ground.
"Horio! Will you stop thinking of Osakada-san and pick up the tennis balls already!" snapped Kachiro, hitting him in the head.
Horio yelped in pain and covered the bump on his forehead with both hands. "All right, all right! I'm going to pick them up. Just stop hitting me in the head or I'll throw some tennis balls at you."
Katsuo laughed lowly before replying, "Seems like you can drop tennis balls more than you can throw them."
Suddenly, the two freshmen boys ganged up on Horio and spoke together with grim faces, "Y-y-o-u like-e O-os-sa-aka-ada-a-s-s-an-n, d-don't-t y-you-u H-h-o-ori-i-o?"
"N-nani-i?!" shouted the victim in surprise, dropping all the tennis balls again.
"HORIO!" yelled Ryuzaki-sensei, the coach of the tennis club, "Pick up those tennis balls, place them in the court, and run 10 laps around!"
Horio, whose jaw had dropped down to the ground, dropped the basket unintentionally, staring at his sensei with big eyes. The other freshmen of the tennis club, overhearing the situation, cackled and giggled to themselves as they carried around equipment.
The troubled freshman fell upon his knees and fisted the ground with both arms, "HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?! I HAVE NEVR HEARD ANY OF THE FRESHMEN WHO GOT IN TROUBLE AND HAD TO RUN LAPS. NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY WORLD HAS COME TO AN END…………………" he trailed off, and wandered off into heaven as his soul left him.
All the freshmen gathered around the called group, leaving behind the lifeless freshman, lying on the ground as he whimpered continuously to himself.
oooooooooooooo
After the competition, the regulars of the new year and semester had been decided: Echizen Ryoma, the only first-year ever to be a regular; Momoshiro Takeshi, the second year that was named as the "Powerhouse"; Kaidoh Kaoru, another second year who hissed from time to time, nicknamed "Mamushi" (meaning Viper); and the rest were third years: Kikumaru Eiji, red-headed and very active, who plays with acrobatics; Kawamaru Takashi, to-be-sushi-chef who is a powerful tennis player and goes crazy when he holds a racket; Oishi Shuichiro, the motherly tennis player of Seigaku who worries his head off about everything; Fuji Shusuke, a tensai and sadist who only plays tennis for his enjoyment, and likes seeing people suffer; and Tezuka Kunimitsu, a junior-high player who puts on a serious expression and currently supports Seigaku's pillar.
After a hard day's work, the tennis club had drawn to an end that day.
oooooooooooooo
The first day of practice for the regulars was organized by a former regular, Inui Sadaharu. Training was quite hard the regulars, as there was a penalty to each incorrect color stated or missed target.
Inui began to explain the rules, "We must train our footwork in order to past all the competitions. So wear it until the Nationals." He threw each regular member a pair of "Power Ankles", which contained five hundred grams total. "If you add it all together, your entire foot would weigh about one kilogram."
Momo looked at his foot for a moment and declared, "It doesn't seem that heavy." Meanwhile, Echizen was jumping on one foot, testing the heaviness.
"Today's practice will focus on eying the ball, or focusing your eyes on the ball. To improve your eyesight, I specifically ordered these color-coded balls that come in red, yellow, or blue. You state the color before you hit it with your racket, then whatever that color is you hit the tennis ball to that color cone. If you state the wrong color or miss the target…" He heaved out a noxious looking fluid inside a blender, which bubbled and gurgled, "You'll have to drink my newest drink, 'Inui Juice'."
Everyone was frightened by the sight of the terrifying features coming from the fluid, and each member worked extra hard that day. But not everybody made it through safely.
"Red!" shouted Eiji, as he prepared to hit the red cone.
Inui smirked for a moment and yelled, "Isn't that one blue?"
"Nya?" asked Eiji surprisingly, just as the tennis ball flew past him. It was indeed red and not blue.
"Inui, you cheater!" angered the acrobatic player, as he stormed around his place.
"Kikumaru, switch positions," ordered the former regular, "If you make an error, switch off. And did I forget to mention my Inui Vegetable Juice?" He held up a plastic cup of green fluid.
The curious one inspected the drink and hesitated, "What's in there?" he asked.
"Food," answered Inui, "Don't worry, I adjusted the taste." A beam of sunlight reflected and shone over his glasses, and he gave away a big grin.
Hesitating for a moment before trying the new liquid, the red-headed loser gulped it down.
"WAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!1 WHAT'S IN THIS THING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" he screamed, running to the boy's bathroom.
Echizen, who just stared at his senpai running off, wondered about the toxic juice. He sweat-dropped at that fact and didn't pay attention to the hurling sphere coming his way.
"ECHIZEN! PAY ATTENTION!" bellowed the female coach. The ball missed him by inches, and Ryoma turned his head to see the motionless orb.
Out of nowhere, the Data Man appeared with another glass. Echizen gulped it down quickly and did the same as his senpai, except for tripping over a tennis ball.
Oishi and Kawamaru were next. I can't afford to make a mistake! the two third years thought and talked to themselves.
The fuka-buchou, who had just realized the effect of the weights, stumbled and fell on the ground, hitting the tennis ball onto the fence. Once again, Inui came over to him with the glass of INUI'S FEARSOME DISGUSTING VEGETABLE JUICE! Oishi ran and ran towards the bathroom, holding his hand to his mouth to prevent from vomiting.
Kawamaru entered the court without his racket. He blankly stared at his classmate with a worried face. Then Fuji came with his yellow racket and said, "Here, Taka-san. Your racket."
"Ah, gomen Fuji. I forgot about that," apologized the worrisome third year. Once his hand gripped the handle, the intensity inside him grew so large that he didn't make a mistake at all.
"BURNINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
But not everything has a good ending. --
Unfortunately, Taka-san hit a blue cone instead of a red cone. The Veggie Juice Maker had another cup of his fearsome drink in hand, and immediately he ran, dropping his racket and screaming slightly.
Same thing with Momo. Although he had stated the correct color, he missed the cone by inches. Oh well. Good thing he didn't die at the very least.
Kaidoh the Viper used his Snake to hit every shot. But to be able to hit your snake technique and read the color of the ball is slightly harder than simply angling the ball towards the target directly. So he messed up a blue tennis ball for a red one.
"Haha! Is the color blue really like the color red?" laughed Horio, as his two other companions tried to hush him.
The second year gave the bragging freshman a deadly glare, which stoned him completely, causing him to fall to the ground and shatter to pieces. Kaidoh returned his attention to the court, only to find a nice, warm, and inviting cup of Inui's Juice in front of his face. He swabbed it, drank it down, threw the cup to the ground, and walked away.
At first, he was very irritated, but it didn't bother him that much.
HOPES ARE VERY HIGH!
But then, some blue stuff popped out of nowhere on his forehead.
What's that stuff? OO
He started walking faster, increasing his pace for each step he took.
That doesn't sound very good…
And then, he bolted off and out of the courts.
Hopes are very low…
Horio sighed for a moment, thinking about his previous comment before speaking, "Even Kaidoh-senpai couldn't take it, huh?" Then the trio averted their attention to the next tennis player to-be-victim of the formidable juice.
The tensai Fuji purposely messed up his training only to try the juice that everyone feared.
"Fuji!" exclaimed his classmate, abruptly waking up from the side effects of the juice, "You messed up on purpose, damn it!"
"Saa," responded Fuji, as he approached the net to receive his penalty, "I just wanted to try it once." He accepted the drink gratefully and swallowed it down.
For a second, everyone thought that Fuji too, would run like the others. But he remained standing, and as he removed the cup from his lips, the tensai sighed in happiness.
"Hmm. It's quite delicious. I recommend it." A huge sweat bead formed on Inui's head.
"You've got to be joking!" whine Eiji, as he slumped back down to the ground.
After the practice was over, Inui suggested a few improvements to everybody: "Everyone did better than I thought they would. But there's always room for improvement.
"Kikumaru, you have a habit of losing your grip during your shot. That'll improve if you develop forearm muscles.
"Oishi and Kaidoh have to work on their forward and backward movements. Kawamaru and Fuji have to work on their left and right dashes. Therefore, you need to develop your quadriceps and triceps."
All the regulars commented so far jolted upwards and shouted back, "THEN WHERE THE HELL ARE THOSE FREAKIN' PARTS?!"
Inui ignored them and continued on with his analysis, "Momoshiro, your accuracy will improve if you hold your shot to 70 percent of your full strength." The second year replied with a thumbs-up and mumbled, breathing heavily, "'kay."
"Tezuka did well in not missing anything, but he needs more flexibility. And your expression is too cold." All the regulars except for the captain, freshman, and the second year with the bandana coughed, trying to hide their boisterous laughter.
"And Echizen," Inui finally said, concluding his analysis on each member, "Let's start with two bottles of milk a day, to prevent you from shrinking away." He smirked for a moment before pushing his glasses upwards.
"Stupid rhyme Inui-senpai," commented Echizen as he stared at the two glasses, "And it's not like I'm going to grow that fast."
"JUST DRINK IT!" hollered his senpai-tachi. The freshman grumpily accepted and began to chug them down his throat.
"Going back to the subject," Inui began once more, "We need to add more weights for each practice that we have. Let's add another weight to start it off for tomorrow"
"Nah," boasted Momo as he got up from his sitting position, "I can have on five weights."
Echizen butted in, "I don't mind having six weights."
As the rest of the regulars proceeded to change in the boys' changing room, Inui intervened, "Regulars will need a minimum of ten weights." A sudden dark and purple aura loomed over the heads of Kikumaru, Fuji, Kawamaru, and Oishi.
A bunch of tennis balls began to fly towards the Data Man as he stood up, carrying some blocks in his hands.
"INUI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
oooooooooooooo
"HEH?! IS THIS SOME KIND OF MISTAKE?!" asked the assistant, peering over the shirt and then the form paper.
"Nope, I can read the 'S' bright and clear! I've been making Seigaku Jackets all my life, but there has never been one when there's a 'small'!"
The door chime rang as someone entered the store. "Ah," greeted the shopkeeper, "Welcome!"
Outside, Ryuzaki-sensei's granddaughter, Ryuzaki Sakuno, had watched Ryoma train during today's practice. Images flicked through her mind as she thought of what Katsuo had mentioned about him, It's like he's in a different world, world, world…
"Ano, Ryoma-kun!" greeted Sakuno cordially. She ran towards him to find that he was carrying something in a bag. The female bent down to look and exclaimed, "Ryoma-kun! Isn't that one of the Seigaku Regular Jackets?"
"Yea," he replied monotonously, "It just got made."
"Sugoi, Ryoma-kun! Can I see you wear the jacket?" she asked.
He blinked in confusion for a moment and said, "You're going to see me wear it anyway during practice tomorrow."
"Ah! Hai…" Sakuno said, mumbling and trailing off. Then she looked down at her feet and sighed, slightly pouting.
Echizen stared at her as thoughts ran through his mind, She is gonna see me wear it tomorrow, so why is she looking so down? She does look kinda cute when she pouts…WHAT THE HELL AM I SAYING?! Fine…I'll just wear it, freakin' hormones. Besides, I need to see if it fits anyway…
Snapping out of his thoughts, he took out the jacket from the bag as she continued to look down at her feet.
"Fwap," was the sound of the wind pressing against the Seigaku Regular Jacket.
"Perfect…it fits perfectly…" mumbled Ryoma, as his jacket flew with the wind behind him.
She smiled and then congratulated him: "Anou, I wanted to congratulate you on becoming a regular, Ryoma-kun!" Sakuno smiled at him, and he blushed slightly before turning to walk home.
"Domo," thanked the new regular, as he strode down the sidewalk. Again, the girl smiled and ran to catch up with him, her braids flying.
And on the rest of the way home, the two freshmen walked together in the setting sun.
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Owari
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A/N: This chapter mostly comes from Episode Nine, but I added a few things here and there to differ the two stories. The next chapter, for sure, will have a lot of outside things. Please trust me on this one…and sorry for the late update! I was stuck on the stupid Horio phrase… Please review and give me any feedback! I am very happy to be criticized because there is always room for improvement. Arigatou!
Ja ne, and I do not own any part of Prince of Tennis!
Eternal.Angel